Posts Tagged poor vs rich

This is a world of rich people, by rich people and for rich people and anyone who tells you otherwise is either seriously bullshitting you or majorly delusional.

Case in point: The White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The swanky celebration is supposed to honor journalists and those who covered Washington’s politics but in recent years it has turned into yet another Hollywood red carpet event. Some of the “distinguished” guests of this prestigious event this year were the epitomes of class: Lindsay Blohan and Kim Kuntrashian.

President Obama and Comedian Jimmy Kimmel

Democrat or Republican, money is the universal language both understand only too intimately and The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is the love child of both as it symbolizes wealth. After all, the only criteria for being included in it were that you are indeed rich and famous. As long as money is involved, everyone approves. That is something both parties agree on. Even most Americans agree on that.

While Republicans have rich hedge fund and corporate donors, Democrats – the party of the people – have wealthy Hollywood money and hot celebrities on their side.

Honoring journalists and the field of journalism, and thus actually hard working wage earners, my ass.

The only thing being honored here is cold hard cash. I mean really, what has a pissed on whore like Kardashian or the cast of Glee contributed to the world of journalism or politics anyway? Why are they even there? Who cares? What about the scientists, activists, historians, philosophers and researchers? Where are they?

Oh yes, the latter are not rich and famous – apparently the only criteria for success in this country and in life – while the former are.

Lindsay Lohan looks like a retired porn star going to the AVN awards

It is ironic that on the one hand we’ve got the Occupy Wall Street movement with demands for equity and relief for the middle class, the 99%, while on the other hand any event of any significance in this country, including this Dinner, is hosted and populated by the wealthy and privileged, the 1% only.

The 99% only seem to matter in as much as they make for great talking point or otherwise help score political points and not because anyone really actually cares about changing the current paradigm, the current dysfunction with respect to structural exploitation and institutionalized greed in this country that have allowed the 1% to accumulate more wealth than the rest of us combined.

There are thousands of people who dedicate every day of their lives to public service in one way or another, thus championing the very causes this Dinner is to honor and uphold – yet the only ones who once again get to benefit from all this, even if just in a celebratory manner, are rich people; the 1% – literally – as everyone at that dinner is a millionaire – without exception.

Not that I don’t love the outrage when it’s politically expedient and all but it’d be nice if the actual American people – you know, the 99% – such as the journalists meant to be holding the US government to account, the non-profit workers, the public servants, the researchers, activists and just the people on the ground who work everyday on these issues for Americans without anyone paying much attention to them – were invited to the table and celebrated, instead of actors, reality TV stars and models – who neither represent the American people, nor have contributed in any meaningful way to the political and social world. Speak of being out of touch. Romney is not the only one.

Money begets money and at the end of the day, when all the political talking points and phony strategizing to supposedly empower the 99% have been made, rich people still only take care of and intermingle with their own. All this talk about empowering the 99% and leveling the playing field are just that: rhetoric. No one really means it and The White House Correspondent’s Dinner is the best example to the point.

The United States would be a very different place if everyone cared about inequity when there wasn’t a presidential election in which appearing to care about inequity could score a political point.